Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Brittaniae ; Note on British genealogies; Note on place-names in the Historia Regum Brittaniae ; Quadripartitus ; Instituta Cnuti Aliorumque Regum Anglorum ; Marbod of Rennes, De Lapidibus ; ‘Prester John’, Epistola Manueli Comneno imperatori Graecorum ; Anonymous chronicle of England; Gesta Alexandri Pseudo-Alexander , Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem de Situ Indie ; Epitaphium Alexandri ; Epigram on Alexander
Agent
Preferred form
Geoffroi de Monmouth (1100?-1154)
Original form
Geoffrey of Monmouth, c 1100-c 1154, Bishop of St Asaph
Other form
Gaufridus Monumetensis
Geoffroi de Monmouth (1100?-1154)
Gaufridus Monemutensis
Galfridus Monemutensis (1100?-1154)
Gaufrido Monemuthensi
Gaufridus de Monemuta
Geoffroi de Monmouth 1100?-1154
Galfredus Monumetensis 1100-1154
Geoffrey, de Monmouth
Geoffrey, of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1100?-1154
This manuscript contains three parts that were produced in the same
style in the late 12th or early 13th century and joined together at
an early stage (ff. 2v-88r; 89r-174v; 176r-217v). The manuscript
most likely originates from St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury,
where it was listed in a 15th-century catalogue of the Abbey’s
library (see St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury , ed. by
Barker-Benfield (2008), 2, pp. 927-28 (BA1.895)). The manuscript
contains one of the three copies of the full version of the
Quadripartitus (Four Parts), a Latin collection of Old English laws
that became especially popular in the 12th century, supplemented
with the Instituta Cnuti aliorumque regum Anglorum (Laws of Cnut
and other English Kings) (see O’Brien, ‘Instituta Cnuti’
(2003), pp. 177-98). It also contains a Latin copy of the Historia
Regum Brittaniae ('The History of the Kings of Britain') by
Geoffrey of Monmouth (d. 1154/55), bishop of St Asaph and
historian. The work, presenting a pseudo-historical account of the
kings of Britain, survives in 217 manuscripts (see Crick, The
Historia Regum Britannie , 4 (1991), pp. 196-217). The manuscript
also includes a Latin copy of a letter (c. 1150) attributed to
'Prester John' that survives in about 100 manuscripts (see Wagner,
Epistola presbiteri Johannis (2000)). The text presents a letter
from a certain Christian priest-king named ‘John’ who writes to
the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (b. 1118, d. 11180) about
the treasures and marvels of a kingdom that he would have
established in the ‘East’. The manuscript ends with various
texts concerning Alexander the Great (b. 356 BC, d. 323 BC),
including a spurious letter describing the wonders of India that
Alexander would have sent to Aristotle (b. 384 BC, d. 322 BC) that
survives in more than 60 manuscripts (see Boer, Epistola Alexandri
(1953), pp. iii-xxi). The manuscript also contains two previously
unidentified lists of chapters from the Summa de matrimonio
(Compendium on Marriage) that Raymond of Peñafort (b. c. 1180, d.
1275) wrote around 1235. The lists may have been copied from a copy
of the Summa that was at St Augustine’s Abbey (see St Augustine's
Abbey, Canterbury, ed. by Barker-Benfield (2008), 2, p. 2578
(BA1.1772b)). Contents: ff. 2v-8r: A table of contents for the
Historia Regum Brittaniae . ff. 9r-87r: Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Historia Regum Brittaniae . ff. 87r-87v: A note on British
genealogies, beginning ‘Alii asserunt alium fuisse Brutum a quo
Britannia dicta est’. ff. 87v-88r: A note on place-names in the
Historia Regum Brittaniae , beginning ‘Amorica sive Latavia id
est Minor Britannia’. ff. 89r-105v: Quadripartitus [see
Liebermann, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen , I (1903), pp. 83-99].
ff. 105v-174v: Instituta Cnuti aliorumque regum Anglorum (Laws of
Cnut and other English Kings), with a table of contents [see
Liebermann, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, I (1903), pp. 112-18,
119-22, 122-24, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130-31, 132, 133, 134-35,
137-38, 139, 140-42, 143-49, 150-66]. ff. 176r-181v: Marbod of
Rennes (b. 1035, d. 1123), De Lapidibus (On Stones) [see Patrologia
Latina , 171, 1737-70]. ff. 182r-185r: Iohannes presbyter ('Prester
John'), Epistola Manueli Comneno imperatori Graecorum (Letter to
Manuel I Komnenos, Emperor of the Greeks), known as ‘The Prester
John Letter’ [Redaction B]. ff. 185-186v: Anonymous chronicle of
England, beginning: ‘[B]ritannia insula autem quodam Bruto
consule Romano dicta est’ [see Dumville, Histories and
Pseudo-Histories (1990)]. ff. 187v-206r: Gesta Alexandri (The Deeds
of Alexander) [see Kuebler, Iuli Valeri Alexandri Polemi Res Gestae
Alexandri Macedonis (1888), pp. 1-168]. ff. 206v-216v:
Pseudo-Alexander, Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem de situ Indie
(Alexander’s Letter to Aristotle on India) [see Boer, Epistola
Alexandri (1953), pp. 1-60]. f. 216v: Epitaphium Alexandri (Epitaph
of Alexander). ff. 216v-217r: Epigram on Alexander, beginning
‘[Q]uicquid in humanis constat virtutibus altis’. The
manuscript contains a number of later additions: f. 175v: A
complete list of chapter titles for the Summa de Matrimonio by
Raymond of Peñafort, added in the 14th century, possibly at St
Augustine’s Abbey; Barker-Benfield does not identify the list’s
source and suggests that it may have been added by Andrew Horn (b.
c. 1275, d. 1328), administrator and chronicler (see St Augustine's
Abbey, Canterbury , ed. by Barker-Benfield (2008), p. 927). f.
217v: An incomplete list of chapter titles (‘De sponsalibus –
De matrimonio – De errore’) from the Summa de Matrimonio by
Raymond of Peñafort, added in the 14th century by the same hand
that copied the list on f. 175v. f. 1r: A table of contents, added
by William Dugdale (b. 1605, d. 1686), antiquary and herald (see
Tite, The Early Records (2002), p. 126). [ff. 1v, 2r, 8v, 88v,
175r, 187r, 218r, 218v, 219r, 219v are blank]. Decoration: Large
initials in green or red with penwork decoration in both colours on
f. 9r (x2). Numerous medium and small initials in blue, green,
purple or red, often with minor penwork decoration in the other
colour; small initials in blue, green or red; small (one-line)
initials highlighted in red. Display script highlighted in red.
Rubrics in red. Paraphs in red or highlighted in red. Aside from 2
medium-size initials in red, there is no decoration on ff.
187v-217r.
